Coaches Play Favorites in Poll Used for BCS Rankings, Research Suggests

College football fans have long had their doubts about the impartiality of coaches polls. A new analysis isn’t likely to change their minds.

Research conducted by Yale University economist Matthew Kotchen and University of Calif.-Santa Barbara political scientist Matthew Potoski, which covers the USA Today coaches poll administered by the American Football Coaches Association from 2005 to 2010, shows that coaches rank their own teams, teams in their own conference, and teams that they’ve defeated more favorably than merited. The researchers argue those biases skew the results of the poll, which is one of the components in the system used to determine which teams get to play in major bowl games, and what two teams go to the national championship game.

“The idea that coaches have been gaming the system is not new,” says Mr. Kotchen. “What we figured out is that you could use econometric methods to study this in a systematic way.”

Every week, about 60 college coaches submit ballots in the poll, which is administered by the AFCA. Those rankings are one of three components — the other two are the Harris poll of ex-players, ex-coaches, administrators and news media, and the average of six computer rankings — used to determine teams’ Bowl Championship Series standings.

Through much of the poll’s 62-year history, coach’s individual ballots were kept secret, but that changed after 2004, when California missed out on a Rose Bowl bid after Texas coach Mack Brown urged coaches to vote for his Longhorns. Since 2005, the coaches’ ballots in the final regular-season poll have been disclosed. Ballots from earlier in the season still aren’t made public.

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